On the occasion of the presentation of the CARS 21 report, the European Commission announced today concrete actions to be taken in reaction to the current economic situation. Recognising the strategic importance of the automotive industry for prosperity in Europe (12 million jobs, € 92 bn trade balance, € 30 bn investment in R&D) an Action Plan will list measures to help the sector. Planned actions concern: 1) providing EU financing for research, in particular to help the sector adapt to the technologies of tomorrow, and reinforcing EIB lending to industry 2) managing the sector's costs by applying the principles of smart regulation and 3) supporting the internationalisation of EU industry by improving market access through trade negotiations and work on regulatory and procedural convergence with the ultimate aim of achieving a worldwide car type approval. This would mean that any car produced in the world can be marketed in every country of the world.

Moreover, the Cars 21 report sets out a complete vision for the automotive industry in 2020 providing recommendations for rapid progress on important subjects such as electro-mobility, road safety, market access strategy and a review of the CO2 emissions from cars and vans.

European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: "The CARS 21 report provides useful input for the important strategic vision for the automotive industry in 2020 which we will present after the summer. But the automotive industry needs to be in good shape first in order to realise this vision. We therefore need to act now and decisively in order to counter current economic difficulties by mobilising financing for research, carefully evaluating any new regulation and supporting the expansion on third markets”.

The proposed measures will form the Commission’s Action Plan supporting the automotive industry, which will be adopted as a Communication on the outcome of CARS 21 in the autumn this year. The communication will also establish an annually meeting of the CARS 2020 Group meeting in order to monitor the progress achieved in the implementation.

The CARS 21 Group has delivered, but this is not the end of the process. The Commission will continue the dialogue with the industry and monitor the economic situation in order to translate the CARS 21 recommendations in concrete actions over the next months.

More information on the vision for the automotive industry in 2020 and the recommendations of the CARS 21 group can be found in today's memo (e.g. roll out of alternative infrastructure, standardisation issues for the breakthrough of electrical cars, the EIB financing, reducing CO2 emissions, a new driving test-cycle and test procedure, ICT technologies supporting driver behaviour and road safety, trade policies and international regulatory cooperation under the UNECE Agreement).

The recommendations contained in the December 2011 Interim Report of the CARS 21 Group (MEMO/11/862) were reaffirmed today.